Yesterday I enjoyed most of the day in my pajamas just sitting at my craft table . . . it was an awesome day for sure! I’m slowly making my way through my iPhoto library, finding awesome photos for layouts that I’ve been meaning to make for awhile. It feels so good to have these come together :-)
Well, I’m off to enjoy this Super Bowl Sunday! I’m very much looking forward to a relaxing day with O and some friends, just watching the game and snacking on some delicious food, oh yeah!
I haven’t completely decided if I’m fully on board with Project Life yet. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the idea, I LOVE how the layouts come together, and I LOVE the everyday story. However, I don’t know if I’m quite ready for committing to documenting each and every week of the year. Like most people some of my weeks are more “glamorous” than others and I typically only remember to grab my camera for the good stuff (which is of course something I’d like to change). For now I’m just going with the flow . . . documenting the weeks where I’m feeling inspired by the photos I’ve taken. Maybe one day I’ll get around to documenting it all!
Our honeymoon week in Oahu was definitely a week I knew I wanted to document with project life. I love how I was able to incorporate little bits and pieces I picked up from the hotel and our luau. It came together really quickly (yay for putting down your thoughts quickly!) and though it’s not perfect and a little all over the place, I think it tells our story well. 
I had printed a couple of other photos from the luau we went to that wouldn’t fit into my Project Life spread, so they went onto their own layout. I love how the vibrant colors from the Amy Tangerine paper really bring out the Hawaiian vibrancy.
That’s it for today y’all! Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!
For our wedding guest sign in book I knew I wanted to create something that could be displayed in our house. We don’t really grab for picture albums very often (in fact, I can’t even remember the last time we did!), and though it’s a really nice memento to have a book I was afraid that ours might start collecting dust. I decided to search for some alternative ideas via etsy and pinterest . . . and boy did I find some good ones! I ran my favorite picks by Omar and he seemed to like the simple and non-uniform looking guestbook ideas the best. The one that caught our eye was this one on Etsy. So, I ran out to Michaels and purchased a shadowbox (for about $7 with a 50% off coupon) some little wooden hearts, and some ultra fine tip sharpie markers. That was about all the prep work I had to do before the wedding. Each guest signed a heart, dropped it in a basket, and voila! . . . guest book was pretty much complete.
Last night I went through all of the hearts that people had signed (this was the best part :-) and just randomly placed them in the shadowbox. I chose a piece of patterned paper for the background, added some black thickers to customize, and here it is! I really love how versatile this is- I could change out the patterned paper at any time or change the title, but for now this is perfect.
Here are some other interesting guest book ideas I loved:
1) I thought this idea was pretty cute. They have several variations that can fit the couple’s style.
2) I love this modern print. Might have gone with this if we would have had a larger wedding.
3) I love this classic take on the wedding guest book. Love the added color with the natural wood.
4) Love this statement piece.
5) This idea is awesome! Great idea since so many people have photo booths set up at the wedding.
1. Usually by this time every year I am overjoyed with the fact that Christmas is just around the corner. Christmas music is playing, gift buying is underway, and decoration planning is in the works. This year feels different though. With so much wedding planning going on, there just hasn’t been enough time to look that far ahead. I’m going to enjoy the Christmas festivities this year . . . but in smaller doses.
2. I’m feeling oh so thankful that we decided to have a small wedding. I’m constantly reminded of just how “us” it is. I’m not a planner of big events, I get nervous around mass amounts of people, and I would be so stressed if we were trying to do things on a large scale. Even 50 guests seems large right now . . . but its definitely manageable, especially with such an amazing and helpful fiance.
3. I have a few more DIY projects I need to complete before the wedding in a few weeks. It will get done one way or another . .. crunch time!
4. I’m realizing that finding time to read is more of a choice than something that can just happen these days. Somethings gotta give, and I think its gotta be something technology related.
5. Now that most of my crafting stuff has been organized and packed away for the big move, I really want to craft! Note to self: Whenever feeling uninspired- organize to recharge :-)
There’s been a lot of planning going on around here lately. I’ve been exuberant in some moments and in tears the next. Stressed out and neurotic one day, calm and happy the next. Talk about your emotional roller coaster!
Most nights after work are dedicated to wedding research. I swear that could be a full time job in itself! I have fun looking Pinterest photos and reading blog posts about people’s magical days- thinking about how it looks like everything came together so beautifully, and then wondering if our wedding day will be as successful. Yes, lots of wedding planning.
However, there are also the moving plans. I won’t be living in my apartment for much longer and these are likely to be the last few weeks/months that I will ever live alone. 98% of me is so ecstatic about that. I’m so excited about marrying O and for us to be living together. I miss him like crazy when we’re not together and I want us to not have to say “goodbye” at the end of the night ever again. But there is that little 2% that may miss the temporary solitude when I’d just sit alone with my thoughts. I’m sure I’ll still have that- but it will forever be different.
This upcoming weekend I’m going to try my best to just relax. I want to enjoy it! I’m turning 26! There’s a Train concert planned, a brunch with family, a trip to Temecula (with hopefully wine tasting included ;-) and the best part- I finally get to meet O’s best friend and his wife! Fun days ahead . . . :-)
This was kind of one of those lingering projects . . . one that I really wanted to do, but when thinking about the tediousness of making 52 cards in pretty much the same manner, I have to say that it didn’t leave me very excited. Although, thinking about it now, it was probably good practice for when I’ll be designing and assembling our wedding invitations!
This is a project that has surfaced on Pinterest more times than I can remember! It’s such a great idea for Mother’s or Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or just to give to a friend or family member. For me, it was a “just because” gift for O. 52 Reasons why I love him.
I picked up just a standard deck of cards from Target (if I had been patient enough, I might have picked up a deck from a place we travel to . . . gift shops always carry playing cards), and used some small scraps of paper (I stuck with 5 or 6 light patterns). Then I wrote down my list of 52 reasons, got busy adhering with washi tape and some glue, and bound it together using a binder spiral, which was originally helping to hold up my spare bathroom shower curtain (shhhhh . . . don’t tell anyone ;-) I also added a few little pictures to the back of some of the cards that corresponded with what was written on the front. And ta-da! I presented it by tying some gardener’s twine around the little booklet which helped hold everything together.
The best part is . . . he really liked it :-)
July 14, 2013- It’s a day that I’m always going to remember. The day that he asked and I said “yes” with all of my heart. The day was simple, and special, and full of love. Very similar words could be used to describe our relationship. I don’t really know if it’s what I was expecting, because I honestly hadn’t thought about how “it” was going to happen. Secretly I had hoped that I wouldn’t be dressed like a slob (although in the end I know that wouldn’t have mattered), and I just prayed (and dropped subtle hints) that it would be only us there so we could just share the moment together. How it was planned was perfect. It was easy. It was special. It was fun. It was one of the happiest days of my life!
It started with a plan that I already knew about. We were going to go to church and then head out to Newport beach to eat dinner at my favorite Italian restaurants. I was soooooo excited for Omar to try the food there because it’s a place I had raved about ever since going for Sam’s birthday last May. (Seriously, Mama D’s is a must-visit in the Newport area). As far as knew it was just going to be another fun day out and about with O.
The again, there were little hints of extra specialness thrown into the day like a note that O left on my car door in the morning, a stop at my favorite bakery in West Covina after church, and yes- the fact that he shaved! ;-) I kind of had a feeling all day long, but I didn’t want to think about it too much for fear that I would start expecting it would happen and end up a little sad that “today wasn’t the day.”
After eating an incredibly delicious meal at Mama D’s we headed down to the beach, which was less than a mile away. I had brought my laptop (yes, I wondered why O had asked me to bring my laptop but I just went along with it :-) We found a nice grassy area and laid down a towel for us to sit on. I knew something was up when O started making a little makeshift tripod with my flip flop and laptop case (very inventive ;-) and set his point and shoot camera on “record” mode. This was it . . . I knew it . . . but I still told myself this could just be a big surprise- maybe an early birthday present or something, ha!
And then . . . there it was . . . this perfect little slideshow started playing on my laptop and I knew THIS was the moment. I watched our relationship play out in pictures . . . our trip to Disneyland, our first pumpkin carving adventure, that hilarious night at Wal-Mart where I picked out a ridiculous eye patch accessory . . . so many amazing moments we have spent together. So much love. So much happiness. All with my best friend.
The slideshow was accompanied by a background song that Omar arranged and played on the piano (how much extra specialness could I have asked for?! :). I was already in tears when the slideshow ended, but the followup of Omar saying, “Sarah, I have a question for you” made me really lose it. That was it, and the “will you be my wife?” question made it official. It was an obvious “yes” that I managed to get out. Perfect. Simple. Us.
I know that there is a lot to come. Even with planning a small wedding, I know there is much to do. But this is a day that I am always going to remember. The day that my best friend asked me to be his forever.
I always get so excited when I see a new Photo App pop up in itunes. It’s like seeing a new toy in the store. However, instead of having to head down to the local toy store, the app is right there. . . ready for good old instant download ;-) When I saw this new app from the blog writers of A Beautiful Mess, I knew I wanted to play around with it, which is exactly what I did :-)
The cost of the app is .99 cents and it comes with quite a few borders, fonts, doodles, and phrases. Then they also have additional “packages” available for purchase within the app. I saw some complaints in iTunes reviews about the cost of the additional packages from people that felt like they should be included in the initial download. However, speaking from a scrapbookers standpoint, I kind of see this app like a stamp set. If you were to buy all of the packages from within the app it would cost about $11.00. That is the average price of a good stamp set. So far I’ve only bought two add-ons (phrases and text) and I’ve been perfectly content playing around with those. Its nice to have this option for adding interest directly to photos on the phone.
I love Photo Booths. I like to think that photo booths are places where silly photos are not only appropriate but encouraged . . . and what’s not to like about silly photographs? There’s also instant gratification when you can see your print immediately after spending 20 seconds posing for the camera. I have never seen anyone exit a photo booth looking angry or sad. It’s like a little happy place where people can take an inexpensive souvenir away from their adventure. A lot of the photo booths in Las Vegas are pretty expensive- I saw one where each photo was $12! No thank you! But when I saw a little inexpensive one in the Circus Circus hotel, I knew that we needed to jump in :-)
Products Used:
Paper:Little Yellow Bicycle: Just Because; BasicGrey: Hey You!; My Mind’s Eye: Quilting Bee
Embellishments:
Fancy Pants: Swagger Rub-Ons; My Mind’s Eye label sticker from Unforgettable “story”; Hero Arts stamp; Amy Tangerine date stamp, Prima butterflies
What is it about childhood activities that makes you feel giddy all over again? I remember when I was planning to move out of my parent’s house I sat down with my sister on the living room floor to go through two giant tubs of barbies. We dumped everything out and took turns picking the barbies, clothes, accessories that we wanted to hold onto and one day pass on to our kids. During that process we got giddy with excitement- just about giving in to the temptation of building a little house our of TV trays for our little dolls to live in at that very moment! Playing with Barbies was a significant passtime of my childhood, and so was roller skating!
I remember pretending that I was an ice skater like Kristi Yamaguchi competing for the olympic gold medal. I would skate around our parent’s back yard while blasting Jenn’s little pink radio to The Drifters (This Magic Moment) . . . and while we’re being so open on the blog right now, I guess I should admit that sometimes I even pretended I was in a couples competition and I would imagine my partner (aka Prince Charming) was twirling me around the ice (ahem- cement). Ha! Those were the days!
Well, now I have my prince charming. And even though he wasn’t twirling me around on a path in the middle of nowhere (which would have been very freaky!) it was still incredibly special. It was the reliving of a childhood memory- only this time, thankfully, without any scrapes and bruises :-)
Sarah's Blog . . . 